The Steel Guitar Forum

I was wondering if there are any styles that a lap steel just won't fit into? Since joining the SGF, I've heard a wide variety played from jazz to Hendrix.

ron

Baroque harpsichord pieces.

Gerald Ross wrote:Baroque harpsichord pieces.

There must be someone who's done it, just to prove it's been done.
Couldn't be very tasteful though...

I would think rap music would sound horrible on a steel guitar.

Of course I think it sounds horrible period

Just M.H.O.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

Lap Dance music sounds terrible on lap steel,

because the lap dancer gets tangled up in the strings and makes you play bum notes....

Lots of things don't sound "correct" when you've got steel in the mix, but if that's not the goal then you're fine.

There's almost always a way to fit in, to add something worthwhile to the music. But that's in a band context. If you're talking about steel as the main presence, then I'd suggest that there are a lot of styles of music that are very, very difficult to pull off. Basically, anything that requires a lot of really fast, intricate melody work will be trouble. A violin, horn or keyboard player might easily sight read through a tune that could take a good steel player weeks or months to crack.

-Travis

unless you're doing a session requiring specific sounds that lap is not right for, any style works. rather than think about what limitations you might have explore all possibilities.

Just using this section of the forum as an example, I've heard all sorts of music done with non pedal steel guitar.

I think the only limitation is the imagination and the skill of the player.

Don't ask a long haired Hippy type playing lap steel in a Heavy Metal band to do a pretty Hawaiian song !!! You will probably get a lap steel across the head !!! Eddie "C"

I was wondering if there are any styles that a lap steel just won't fit into?

Gregorian chants, rap, or anything "sung" by Yoko Ono.

Danny James wrote:I would think rap music would sound horrible on a steel guitar.

Of course I think it sounds horrible period

Just M.H.O.

I'm not a fan of rap or hip hop either....HOWEVER.....


Mike "Slo-Mo Brenner has incorporated lap steel, rap, twang, rock, country rock, r&b and probably a bunch of other genres & sub genres to create a hybrid style of music "with something for everyone"....original to say the least....and electrifying IMO.....

Slo-Mo was the hit of The Lap Steel Weekend several weeks ago in NY......He (Mike Brenner) plays a modded Road-A-Phonic like nobody's business.....Slo-Mo is on heavy rotation in my man cave......

There are no limits to the steel guitar......unless I happen to be behind it.....

Mike "Slo-Mo Brenner has incorporated lap steel, rap, twang, rock, country rock, r&b and probably a bunch of other genres & sub genres to create a hybrid style of music "with something for everyone"....original to say the least....

There are no limits to the steel guitar.....

I would like to get a link to Mike's music. Anyone, please?

IMHO steel guitar is more than just a Hawaiian instrument. That said, examples of some of the prettiest music composed for steel guitar are Hawaiian.

I think the only limits to steel guitar are in our minds. I think of steel guitar as the ultimate "analogue instrument" because of its degrees of control. The left hand allows many many degrees of expression and micro-pitch nuances, the right hand with three to four picks allows a great range of expression of transients. And the pedal steel extends control to feet and thighs.

Jerry Byrd showed how steel guitar could flow harmonies in transition that no other musical instrument achieves. Buddy Emmons showed how it could play jazz with amazing effectiveness. Others have shown how even classical music could be played on it with great effect. The name of the artist/composer escapes me, but there is an album of classical music composed for the steel guitar.

It is an amazing instrument for blues, not as yet discovered IMHO, an evolution from slide guitar that bears promotion.

I am not sure about rap, although surely someone somewhere by now (Mike Brenner?) will have experimented with a vocoder. If anybody on this forum knows of this, please send me a link.

One genre that I have not heard on steel yet is soul music. If anyone has examples, should be pleased to hear. I think it may sound good and one of these days I aim to have a go.

Kay (on vacation in Europe and therefore with time on my hands to blab...)

As Howard and Kay said so beautifully, the only limits lie in our imagination. That said, steel doesn't belong on accappella music.

Kay Das wrote: I would like to get a link to Mike's music. Anyone, please?

Here are a couple of videos from the lap steel festival at the Rodeo Bar, NY, in November:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6MOlm9Wn10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67qC0caqQCc

I love this stuff

I'm sorry, but to my ear that is not music. To me that is just a bunch of noise and the steel is used as a noise maker. The original question was "any styles that a lap steel just won't fit", and it definately does not fit this genre. The word "MUSIC" has taken on a vast meaning to some people. It seems that anything that makes a noise and has some sort of beat can be called music even though there is no melodic rhythm to it. But again, this is only my opinion.

Andy Barlo wrote:I'm sorry, but to my ear that is not music.

I think the key words here are "my ear".....

Happy New Year!

The Desert Rose Band sang it best...."One Step Forward And Two Steps Back".......

Andy Barlo wrote:I'm sorry, but to my ear that is not music.

See, and to MY ear that is great music, that I'd like listening to much more than listening to the same old Hawaiian stuff (which I'm not really interested in in the first place...)

Like I said, That is MY opinion.

ANDY: You're NOT ALONE in your position.

Just a daily listen to YouTube and one can learn quite readily what is "music" and what is "electrified noise"........ The one's making the NOISE in their performance seem to be working quite hard to accomplish it........

This NOISE.....IMHO, cannot be classfied as a STYLE as there is no real substance to much of the racket.

JERRY BYRD has recorded some very beautiful Japanese music on his steel guitar. It's different but when performed by a talented musician it can be most pleasurable.

Don't back down Andy. No need to bow or apologize here.

Ray Montee wrote:
This NOISE.....IMHO, cannot be classfied as a STYLE as there is no real substance to much of the racket.

Are you talking about Mike Brenner and his band, or in general terms?

I would never begrudge anyone for their opinion about music, but I will say this: You cannot judge a musician by one musical situation. I have played with and listened to musicians all my life who are chameleons and can and do play any style convincingly.

Many musicians have stuck to their guns and only played one style of music their entire lives, and I respect that. In one sense, I envy them on some level. But many of us, and I can really only speak for myself, get excited by a multitude of musical sounds--many of my closest friends could never even understand some of my choices! I am like a child when it comes to hearing sounds: filled with wonder. But that's what makes me who I am, and the next person who they are.

I've always believed in learning the traditions of a musical instrument while at the same time trying to find my own voice. The secrets of the instrument are tucked in the traditions, and the artistry of playing is filtered through the player. I play music that some would be appalled by, and yet I am a devoted student of steel traditions. The fact that I am able to find my way through most musical situations is a source of pride for me.

Play any style of music you want--just play it well!

While it can be used in any kind of music, I feel that using lap steel in music that was popular before electric instruments came along is a stretch. I'm speaking of forms like traditional jazz from the 20's, or orchestral music from the late 1800's. Technically it can work, but it tends to sound a bit gimmicky when compared to the "correct" instruments.

Lap steel works well in any modern context, including so-called "rap" and hip-hop. (I actually doubt that any current music is called "rap" by its creators. It's a catch-all term used mainly as a pejorative by people who don't understand modern pop.)

While we hear examples of jazz played on lap steel in this forum, I doubt that it will ever be taken seriously in the jazz community. I do not know of one record on a major jazz label that features lap steel. Pedal steel is making inroads there, but lap steel is viewed as more of a toy.

Ditto with classical or, as they say, "serious" concert music (artistically written and orchestrated). We see inroads being made by pedal steel players, but the lap steel is viewed in the same light as a diatonic harmonica - i.e. as a toy instrument. It's really a shame because, as we know, the instrument itself knows no limits.

b0b wrote:I do not know of one record on a major jazz label that features lap steel.

Greg Leisz' work with Bill Frisell comes to mind, but that's the only one I can think of at the moment.

Well, there's Stacy Phillips on lap steel and reso with The Afro-Semitic Experience, a jazz group with several CDs out.

Tom Morrell left behind a sizeable recorded legacy of non-pedal jazz.

Neither of these examples had the backing of a "major jazz label"...whatever that might mean these days...but there have been steelers making jazz without pedals ever since the 1920s and there probably always will be.